Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: bench warrant and dl. suspension

Once you allow a warrant, your only options are to go to court yourself to plead and negotiate a 'resolution' of the problem, or to have an attorney do it for you. You face additional penalties for willfully ignoring the court date. If you go yourself, be prepared to apologize to the court and explain why you foolishly ignored the court.

Re: bench warrant and dl. suspension

I have no idea where you live, and the answer may depend on what county you live in, but the last person who asked me for this advice wound up facing the music (as I advised her) and wound up doing the night in the slammer. I felt bad about it. But she wrote back and told me she is greatly relieved at having it behind her and no longer being a fugitive. And she had been convicted of a misdemeanor and failed to do a month of community service, quite a bargain! Since you only had a fix-it ticket my best guess is you will get nothing more than a finger-wag from the judge. But there are no guarantees and I could be wrong. Look, being a fugitive is no fun. Go to court first thing in the morning and take care of it.

Re: bench warrant and dl. suspension

Take care of it as soon as you absolute can. Don't be afraid. I would be amazed if you went to jail on failing to appear on a fix it ticket.

Jacek W. Lentz, Esq.

310.273.1361

www.lentzlawfirm.com

Re: bench warrant and dl. suspension

You say you "didnt go because the original fix it ticket was not fixed yet". Look closely at the ticket. Does it say that you need only show up if you had fixed the violation? I didn't think so.

You might have been able to get some extra time had you called the court *before* your assigned court date and asked for a postponement. Failing that, your only options were to fix the violation before the court date or to show up and be fined. If you thought skipping the court date would help you avoid the fine -- in other words, that the system would go easier on you if you disobeyed the citation than if you obeyed it -- you were badly mistaken.

Fixing the violation after the court date would not have spared you the fine. If that were how things worked, people could avoid fines just by delaying the required repairs and ignoring their court dates. The system is designed to deter such conduct, not to encourage it.

Had you shown up as scheduled you would merely have had to pay the original fine. (You then would still have had to correct the violation, since you remained subject to further citations as long as you continued to drive with it.) You will still have to pay that fine, since you corrected the violation too late. You will also have to pay an additional penalty -- probably much more than the original fine -- for missing the court date.

I agree with Mr. Lentz that you will probably not have to go to jail. As Mr. Stone explains, though, that is a real risk. If you want to minimize that risk you should consider hiring a lawyer. That will cost even more, but the expense may be worthwhile if it keeps you from being locked up.

Don't even think about delaying further. That warrant is for real, and deputies could come to your home or place of business at any time in order to execute it. Further, if you are pulled over for any reason -- even another fix-it ticket -- the police will find out about the warrant and arrest you. The same thing will happen if you deal with the police in any other context (for example, if you witness a crime or are involved in a traffic accident), go through customs or otherwise have to identify yourself to law enforcement.

Accepting responsibility for the situation you're in will almost certainly make the court less eager to jail you. You may not get the result you want after walking into court on your own, but things will be worse if you are hauled in wearing handcuffs.